Bird, meet Ranger, Ranger, meet bird
by Lora Kael
Summary: It's common knowledge that the Rangers practice black magic that allows them to become part of nature. But sometimes nature decides to become part of them, and then you just have to roll with it. At least that's Will's philosophy.


Just a little thing that popped into my head when going for a walk. :) Enjoy.

* * *

Will was waiting. In fact he had been waiting for hours, standing completely still in the forest and obscured by the greenery around him. He had long ago blended in with the surrounding landscape. A little too well even, Will thought to himself. The bird had landed on his cowled head five minutes ago and aside from moving around a little it didn't seem of a mind of fly away again. In fact, judging from the sounds he heard from the top of his head, he was pretty sure it was polishing its feathers now.  
Will resisted the urge to shake his head to get the bird to fly away; his training had long ago instilled in him the need for stillness when keeping watch. Of course, it hadn't included birds landing on him. He smothered a sigh. He wondered why it seemed to like his head so much; perhaps it was the soft wool of the cloak or maybe it was the heat rising from his head. No matter what it was the fact was that a bird had decided to perch there, bringing just a little extra noise and distraction to him.

Another sound alerted him to the presence of others. It would be just his luck if the bird decided to leave now and got the new arrivals to look in his direction. But despite what sounded like an unnecessary amount of noise from the men that stepped into the clearing in front of Will the bird stayed where it was, seemingly unfaced by the new arrivals and continued with its work on the feathers.

Finally, Will thought to himself. He had been tracking these bandits for weeks, but they always managed to slip away before he could get the drop on them. By a lucky stroke he had noticed a pattern in the direction they often disappeared in last week; it wasn't every time, but enough times that Will had started a more thorough investigation of the area, which had led him to this clearing; it had borne the signs of recent and frequent activity despite the area being otherwise unoccupied. Will had decided to act on his hunch and it was now the third day he was stationed here, keeping watch. And here they were; a group of four men with crude weapons and sacks of spoils.

"Where's Will?"

Will's eyes widened at hearing his name.

One of the others shrugged. "He'll be here soon enough. Needs to lay out the false track for the damn Rangers, remember?"

"Oh right."

One of the others spit on the ground at hearing the word 'Rangers'. "Those damn Rangers won't find us here; they've been looking for weeks, and they can't catch us; we're too quick."

The first laughed. "Quickly in, quickly out. They won't even have time to come."

And that had been Will's problem. He knew they were a small group, the tracks told him so, and that actually made it harder to follow them; many small groups travelled the countryside, and the bandit's group often split up forcing Will to choose which group to try and track. It had been maddening. But they hadn't been smart enough to keep moving around instead returning to the same meeting spot and now Will had them.

The bandits continued to chat waiting for their comrade to show up, Will continued to watch and listen smiling grimly to himself as he got more information from their conversation than he could have hoped for, and the bird continued to stay perched on his head. Will was pretty sure it was asleep now.

"Will! Finally! What kept you?" The man who Will had learned was the leader turned towards the new arrival, the man named Will.

Second Will gave the others a grin. "Wanted to be sure the Ranger would be going in the wrong direction when he got around to the village."

"Did you do that trick with climbing up the trees and moving through the branches?"

"Of course," second Will proudly proclaimed. "It fools them every time."  
And it had. Will felt a cold anger when he realised how they had managed to fool him so many times. It was all the times he had chosen to follow the wrong track; either it ended mysteriously or blended in with too many other tracks on a busy road to follow. From now on he'd have to start checking the trees out, too, and check up high.

Well Will thought this had gone on long enough. None of the bandits were looking in his direction, so he very carefully started moving, changing his grip on the bow in his left hand. He had kept it hidden under his cloak, but now it was time to use it. He was glad he had decided to wear his quiver on the hip instead of the back since it meant he could reach the arrows in it without disturbing his robe or the bird on his head. He carefully selected an arrow, but the slight movement got the bird moving a little, too, and it flapped its wings indignantly at being disturbed. One of the bandits looked in Will's direction and he froze in place.

"What is it?" The leader asked sharply.

"Nothing," the other man replied. "Just a bird."

The others shrugged. While they may have been joking about Will not being able to find them here, their nerves were still pretty high strung.

Will smiled to himself. Maybe having a bird on his head wasn't the worst that could happen. They certainly wouldn't expect to find a Ranger underneath a bird, so they didn't even look. Now if he could just finish his preparations without the bird flying off, then he could arrest these men and get back to Castle Redmont.

Very carefully Will placed his arrow on the string, straightened up, and then smoothly stepped clear of the bushes that had kept him hidden.

"King's Ranger!"

The sound made the bandits flinch before they spun around, eyes wide. And then did a double take, their eyes growing even wider. For some reason unknown to Will the bird had stayed rather than flying when he moved and spoke loudly; it crooned and flapped its wing to keep its balance, but didn't take flight.

A bandit cursed.

"R-ranger!" another cried fearful.

None of them laughed despite the fact that Will was sure it must look ridiculous with the bird on his head, but then again he did have a drawn arrow pointed at them. For a long moment they just looked at one another.

"Are you going to drop your weapons or do I need to shoot you?" Will asked, sounding unconcerned with either prospect. He saw a look of defiance light in the biggest and most brutish of the men as well as the one he had pecked as the leader. He quickly made a mental shooting order to start with those with most defiance. That usually got the others to hesitate, which would be fatal to them.

"There's only one Ranger," the leader cried. "We're five! GET HIM!" He jumped forward, the others right behind him.

Will loosened his arrow almost casually and sent it flying right into the chest of the leader, his second arrow following a mere heartbeat later into the big brute, who fell with a cry of pain. The third got an arrow in the leg, but the fourth was almost upon him, when he released the third arrow. The bandits were in excellent shape and fast despite their scruffy looks.

It was during all of this the bird on top of Will's head got enough of the commotion. It spread its wings and flew in the direction it was facing, towards the bandits. The fourth bandit, named Will, would probably have reached Will in time to take a swing at him with his club if he hadn't instead swung at the bird suddenly flying towards him.

"Argh! Go away, demon bird!" The bird quickly gained speed and altitude and swung up towards a branch hanging overhead, avoiding the club.

Will sent an arrow into the shoulder of the man, and the final bandit had lost his nerve and just dropped his crude sword and then threw himself to the ground. Will lowered his bow, not willing to shoot an unarmed man lying on the ground.

"Smart move," he said softly.

The other Will groaned where he had gone down to his knees, holding his hand to his shoulder where the arrow was buried in it. "Damn bird," he muttered. "Since when did Ranger's start using birds?"

Will hid a smile. The bird had indeed chosen the perfect time to take flight, distracting the bandit, and deserved some praise for that. "Well done," he crooned to the bird, which flapped its wings and made a crooning sound, too.

The unharmed bandit glanced up, fear evident in his eyes. It was clear a new story about the sorcery of the Rangers were about to be spread around and Will didn't mind that one bit. This could be useful in the future. Must remember to tell Crowley, Will thought to himself, happy with how things had turned out today.

Sometimes you used nature, sometimes nature used you. And being the resting place of a bird had unexpected advantages. Will allowed himself a smile, which only made the bandit even more nervous, and went to work getting the bandits still breathing tied up and patched up so they could return to Castle Redmont with him.

This day had been well worth the wait and as far as Will was concerned birds could rest on his head any time they wanted.


End file.
